/x/ - Paranormal

I've been in between jobs ever since I left college, doing different things here and there - odd jobs sometimes. It wasn't until I started as an 112 operator that I realised it's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The feeling that it gave me was indescribable; this warmth would wash over me like a cup of smooth, hot chocolate sliding down your throat and for a while, I was as happy as a clam. I'd only been on the job about four months when I received one of the most chilling, unexplainable and spine tingling phone calls of my life. Now, I know what you're thinking. Most, if not all 112 calls are chilling or disturbing to a degree - of course they are. It's an emergency line. However, nearly all the calls can be explained, they can be rationalised and categorised. Nothing is left unclear or ambivalent. Rationality is what the human brain needs to be able to understand and comprehend a situation. When that's not possible, that's when you start to question everything you've ever known; everything you've ever accepted as reality. The night it happened was a particularly gruelling shift and I'd spent the last 10 hours just dispatching police for various domestics. I was about two hours from finishing when I received a call from a little girl called Arunthati. The following is a transcript of that call. Operator: One-one-two operator, what is your emergency? Caller: Hello? Mummy's fallen over. Operator: What's your name, honey? Caller: Arunthati. Operator: Okay, Arunthati. Can you tell me where you live? Caller: I don't know the address. Can you find me? Operator: Yes, I can trace the call, Arunthati. Can you tell me what's happened? Caller: Mummy's been acting all weird the past few days. Not sleeping at nights, going around scratching at things, scratching at walls. I'm always too scared to come out of my room. Tonight, I was in bed and I started hearing this weird moaning sound. Mummy sounded like a zombie! (giggle). Operator: What's mummy doing right now, Arunthati? Caller: Mummy's on the floor right now. Won't get up. Operator: Is mummy breathing, Arunthati? Caller: I don't know. I can't see her chest moving. I'm scared. Operator: It's ok honey, help is on the way. I'll need you to stay on the line with me until they arrive. Can you do that? Caller: Y-yes. Something's happening. Operator: What's happening? Caller: Mummy's twitching now. Her eyes are fluttering. Like a butterfly. (In the background distinct moaning sounds are heard and sounds of someone dragging themselves. Arunthati is heard whimpering.) Caller: Is someone coming? I'm scared. Operator: Yes, Arunthati. Help is not far away. What are those noises? Caller: It's mummy. Operator: What's mummy doing? Caller: I'm hiding in my wardrobe. She is crawling on the floor, like a tarantula and her eyes have gone all weird. She is hissing and this weird red foamy stuff is coming out of her mouth around the sides. Operator: Can she see you? Caller: I don't think she can see me yet. Is someone coming? Are they close? Operator: Yes, very close. Caller: (whimpering) Operator: Arunthati? Are you ok? Caller: (inaudible) - mummy's walking backwards now. I think she knows where I am. Her black eyes are looking right at me. Please, I'm scared. Mummy wants to hurt me. Operator: Arunthati. What do you mean your mummy is walking backwards? Caller: It's all upside down. Her legs are twisted the wrong way, her body is normal but her head is all backwards too. You know when you twist your barbie's head? It's like that. She's shaking as she walks, kinda like a robot. She's coming. Operator: Arunthati, the police are right around the corner. Caller: Mummy's smiling at me now. I think it's ok for me to come out. Operator: Arunthati, stay where you are. Caller: Mummy? (whimpering) Operator: Arunthati? The police are right outside. Caller: (inaudible) Mummy, please stop. You're scaring me. Operator: Arunthati? Caller: I don't want to eat that Mummy. What do you mean it'll make me like you? Where are we going, Mummy? A piercing scream is heard and the line goes dead. When the police arrived at the scene, they couldn't find Arunthati nor her mother. In fact, the house didn't even look lived in. They reported that the lights didn't work, there was no furniture and in the middle of the living room, they found the decaying corpse of a dog. Looked to have been dead for weeks. Insects, maggots; all kinds of detestable things were found slithering around the house. No trace of any living human being was found. I quit my job the very next morning. That call has haunted me to no end since; I just couldn't comprehend my experience. My boss and the police were all adamant that they were sent to the wrong address - it was all deemed to be the fault of the dispatcher. Me. But I know I wasn't wrong, I know the address was right and there was no error in the system, nor was it my fault. I think about Arunthati every day and pray that nothing bad happened to her but deep in my heart, I know that creature that was pretending to be her mother did something unspeakable to her. Something unthinkable.